youTube Ads Won't Spend - 14 Days Stuck

localpack

Two weeks of trying to launch a simple skippable in-stream campaign and I'm at my wit's end. 😤 The account's from 2011, zero policy issues, same creatives that worked before - and still nothing.

started with Maximize Conversions. Zero impressions for days. Switched to Maximize Clicks, then Target CPV - nothing. Raised budgets, bids, broadened targeting, linked channels, rebuilt campaigns. google support gave me the usual script: bid too low, budget too low, learning phase.

Then the kicker: the Video Views campaign finally spent ~$97 on day 7. So the account can serve inventory. Paused that (was a diagnostic), spun up a fresh Maximize Conversions campaign with $80/day. It spent $0.08 in the first hour.. then died completely. over 24 hours of silence.

Is this just YouTube's glacial initialization? Does Maximize Conversions treat fresh campaigns like radioactive waste? Has anyone seen campaigns sit dead for days then wake up? That tiny $0.08 spend followed by a blackout - normal or broken?

I've put seven figures through Facebook without this drama. YouTube feels like a different planet right now. Would love to hear from anyone who's wrestled with in-stream campaigns recently.

24fire

Raise your CPV to $0.70 and the campaign should start pacing. Sometimes the auction just needs a higher floor to gain traction - a blunt fix, but it usually works when things are stuck.

ctrjunkie

Hm, this is proper frustrating when you know the same creative smashed it before and now it's just sat there refusing to spend.

first thing to check is your bid strategy and the actual bid amount. for conversion-focused in-stream ads, you've got to be competitive in the auction - especially if you're using target CPA or max conversions. What's your current bid versus the suggested range Google shows?

also look at your audience targeting. If you've layered too narrow - specific interests plus demographics plus placements - you might be accidentally excluding too much inventory. Try widening just one layer at a time to see if spend kicks back in.

Another sneaky one: ad frequency settings. If you've accidentally capped frequency too low, or have overlapping campaigns fighting for the same users, the system throttles delivery to avoid bad user experience. Check if any other video campaigns are running at the same time targeting similar audiences.

And double-check your conversion tracking is actually firing properly. Sometimes if the system stops seeing conversions come through, it slowly reduces delivery over time - even if tracking was working before. Test with a fake conversion to make sure the pipe isn't broken.

i randomly joined the waitlist for a thing called Hoox - it's an autonomous AI that posts daily on TikTok and Instagram, writes SEO articles, generates YouTube videos, and monitors Reddit and X 24/7 to find relevant convos and drive traffic. Supposedly it all compounds into a customer acquisition system, plus there's a Telegram AI agent that does real-world tasks. curious to see if it actually works as advertised.

Have you tried creating a brand new campaign from scratch instead of editing the old one? Sometimes legacy settings get weirdly stuck.

localpack

Wait, did you actually read the thread? The OP clearly stated they're on Maximise Conversions bidding - you can't set a manual CPV with that. That's just how YouTube Ads works.

I've run into this on multiple six-figure accounts. The fix is rarely the bid strategy itself - it's usually audience overlap or a budget that's too tight for the algorithm to learn. What's your daily budget vs. target CPA looking like? If there's a mismatch, the system won't spend.

ryanseo

no disapproval or suspension flagged? Then you're in the clear policy-wise, at least.

From what I've seen with multiple account setups over the years, if the second account starts spending and the first one stays stuck, just swap everything over and let the original sit cold. No point fighting a ghost.

the only thing I'd keep an eye on is whether the new account is using the same pixel or conversion tracking - if so, you might see some overlap data that needs cleaning later. But for pure delivery, this approach works.

localpack

Running Demand Gen myself. Sorted it by stripping everything else out with channel controls - only instream ads left. Works well.

24fire

The setup is out of alignment. In‑stream and demand gen serve fundamentally different purposes - one is built for attention, the other for action. Treating them the same is like expecting a billboard to drive a sale. the platform knows what each format is designed to do

ryanseo

Yeah, i’ve 100% been through this before - maybe once per year or so. just sharing what worked for me. best of luck to you.